SMELL ME!

(Ignas' POV)

His surprised face almost sent me into fits of laughter. Mighty Alpha Leo, the brutal leader of the Dominic Pack, looked like a fish just out of water. I watched him, his after-shock face rolling from one confusion into another, and a smile crept inside. Never have I thought I would ever see such a terrifying Alpha this unsure.

“Having a good time?" I taunt. "Is this all a big game to you? You think it's funny to pretend like I am your mate?”

He stared at me, his dark eyes chasing mine, as if he didn't understand what I had said. I felt this weird satisfaction, like taunting him was some kind of victory that I needed after all I'd been through. 

And when I turned, ready to walk away from him and the storm of emotions he'd stirred up, his hand caught my arm, holding me firmly in place.

"Wait," he said, his voice low but commanding. "What do you mean by that? What are you trying to say, you have no wolf?”

I stood there, my heart pounding, and anger rising in me. He stared at me, like the puzzle he needed to figure out, the mere fact of my existence calling into question everything he had thought he knew. The grip was firm yet soft; the stare, it was a gaze trying to reach into my soul.

"You can't be serious," I snapped, jerking my arm back. "Look at me. Smell me. You're so convinced that I'm your mate? Then shouldn't you know? Shouldn't you already be able to sense it?" The words were out before I could stop myself, laced through every syllable with my anger.

I really wasn't expecting him to actually listen to me. But to the utter shock of my life, he drew closer and his piercing gaze would not leave my body. Before I knew what was happening, he leaned in, his hand moved to my waist, and pulled me closer until the heat of his body burned onto mine. In another second, his eyes darkened with that focused attention that sent shivers down my spine, and his face was inches from mine.

Then he bowed his head, his warm breathing fanning my neck. My heart stopped beating, pulse racing wildly as he inhaled, slow, deep. His nose nuzzled the skin, some strange heat seeping into me, melting my anger, leaving me helpless and weak in his clutches. I wanted to push him away, tell him to stop, but something kept me rooted to the spot, as if every fiber of my body refused to move.

His hand on my waist tightened, hauling me closer still. The heat of his breathing sent a shiver running; my eyes fluttered shut. I couldn't help this feeling surging through me, raw and overwhelming, a fire spreading beneath my skin, forbidden yet undeniable. My body betrayed me, sinking into the pull between us.

Then, with no warning at all, I felt the soft nip of teeth on my neck, playful, gentle teeth, yet coursing right to the core of my being. I gasped, my eyes snapping open. For a moment, the world spun, and all I could feel was the warmth of his mouth, the raw intensity in the way he held me.

Then he let go as suddenly as he had begun. His face spoke volumes of confusion and amazement, wide-eyed in staring at me, by the way he tried to make out what had just happened.

"How could this be?" he whispered almost to himself.

I blinked, dazed, to clear the fog from my brain. My hand went instinctively to my neck, where a faint tingling lingered over his bite. Anger flared in me, at the sensations he'd stirred, so much stronger than I was ready for. I glared at him, trying to cover my own confusion, my own vulnerability.

“Are you a dog or something?" I snapped. "I said sniff, not nibble on me!"

A smile played at the corner of his mouth, his cold gaze warmed with a sparkle of humor. "Does it matter?" he said with a voice not even quivering. "You liked it, didn't you?

My Anger boiled over once more, and my fists clenched as heat rose to my cheeks. How could he be so calm and smug after everything he'd just done? After the way he'd turned my world upside down in a single moment?

"You-" I sputtered, searching for just the right words. "You're insufferable! Don't ever let me see you again!

He didn't flinch, didn't back down. Instead, he crossed his arms, his face serene, unruffled. "You will see me again," he said with a quiet certainty. "Because you are my mate. And that is something I would never ignore."

I laughed, the sound without any humor behind it. It was flat and bitter and empty. "You're seriously insane. And arrogant. Do you even hear yourself?

But he didn't. Not a flicker. He just kept on staring with those eyes like a knife stab as if he'd been staring at me all along. Then after a time his voice came, soft, his eyes level.

"Then tell me this." Soft, then he was shouting, his eyes not off mine an instant. "Why don't you have a wolf?

It was a question that hung in the air, from a voice that sounded heavy with something I couldn't quite place. The anger fell away to be replaced by something else, an ache, a wound I'd buried deep inside, a secret I had so desperately tried to bury.

I bit my lip hard to avoid responding. I looked down and muttered the words that seemed to tear me apart.

"I… I don't know," I whispered. My voice seemed to hardly escape my lips. "I had waited. I had waited so long. But nothing ever happened." I swallowed. That too familiar sting of disappointment, of shame swirled up. "Everybody else… everybody else found their wolf. Everybody except me."

I waited for him to explode into gales of laughter, teasing me like all those other guys had done. But as I lifted my head, his face was solemn, his eyes full of something near to… tenderness.

"That does not make you less," he whispered, words softly spoken into the stillness of the night. "You are still mine. Wolf or no wolf."

The words slapped me like a ton of bricks, and for a second, I forgot how to breathe. I'd been alone, an outsider, not fitting in for so long. And here he was, claiming me despite everything.

I shook my head, trying to clear the strange, dangerous warmth in my chest. "I don't believe you," I managed to say, but even to myself, my voice sounded weak, unconvincing.

A tiny smile pulled at the corner of his lips. Another step closer, and again that space narrowed between us. His hand lifted to my cheek; his touch soft, wondrously careful, as if he was afraid I'd disappear.

He spoke softly. "You don't have to believe me, but that doesn't change a thing. You are my mate, Ignas. And I'll protect you, whether you accept it or not.".

I swallowed, my heart racing in my chest, my mind tumbling over with questions and doubts, tangled emotions I couldn't seem to understand. I wanted to push him away, to run, but something kept me in place, something that felt as unbreakable as the bond I'd spent hours denying.

But as they sank in, the fear grasped me anew. This man, this Alpha could break down every wall I'd ever erected, shatter every defense. And I couldn't let that happen.

"Don't follow me," I whispered, jerking back, severing the bond. "I don't need you, and I don't want to see you again.

I turned and started to walk away, trying to shut out the fact that with every step my heart was protesting, the ache already nipping at a beginning inside me.

But as I walked away from him, his last words reverberated in my head, a promise I knew I wouldn't be able to get away from.